Song Of Solomon Milkman Character Analysis

In Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison addresses the question that has been asked for decades and still lacks an answer; Can a person change? Toni also discusses other themes such as materialism, racism, and how being light skin makes a difference in the black community. These themes are depicted in the book’s main character, Milkman. Milkman goes through a drastic change in his personality when he leaves his previous materialistic lifestyle and goes on a journey to discover his family’s history. Even though the major changes in Milkman’s character happen in Chapter 11, the minor events that lead up to his shift from materialism and being self-centered to a more genuine, caring, and non greedy person take place in Chapter 10, showing that his growth

He never helps anyone with anything including his family. The author demonstrates Milkman’s selfishness and spoiled personality in multiple ways including, when Milkman gets confronted by his sister for his selfish actions; “ And to this day, you have never asked one of us if we were tired, or sad, or wanted a cup of coffee. You’ve never picked up anything heavier than your own feet, or solved a problem harder than fourth-grade arithmetic. Where do you get the right to decide our lives?” (215). Milkman always expects to get services from people without giving in anything return. He assumes that that's the way things work. At first Milkman acts careless when his sister confronts him and thinks that it is only a temporary outrage but then he realizes what his sister is trying to say to him. Her harsh remarks and statements struck him with reality that contributes to his personality change. This change can be seen towards the end of Chapter 10 when Milkman helps a stranger with a crate in Danville bus station; “Say,” said the man. “If you ain’t gonna try to catch him, could you give me a hand with this?” He pointed down to the huge crate at his feet. Too tired to say no or explain,Milkman nodded”(256). For the first time in his life Milkman “nodded” with approval to

Milkman is put in a situation he has never been in before, he faces starvation while he goes looking for gold in the cave; “Milkman began to shake with hunger. Real hunger, not the less than top-full feeling he was accustomed to, the nervous desire to taste something good. Real hunger” (253). Being lost after looking for gold is karma’s way of teaching Milkman a lesson. It teaches him to not be the greedy and materialistic person that he has come to be and instead, teaches him to be thankful for what he is and not ask for more. For Milkman hunger is a feeling that he never experiences before going to look for the cave. The fact that he is forced to eat inedible things and foods he never eaten, forces him to develop a sense of sympathy that his personality lacked. “He thought of the breakfast food Mrs. Cooper had put before him, which had disgusted him then. Fried eggs covered with grease, fresh-squeezed orange juice with seed and pulp floating in it, thick hand-cut bacon, a white-hot mound of grits and biscuits” (253). Milkman is accustomed to the luxurious lifestyle, before starving he sees that what Mrs. Cooper serves for breakfast is disgusting and considers it as “poor people’s” food, however, he would die to get what he called “disgusting”. He is finally exposed to life other than his lavish one, he regrets not grabbing what he always took for granted, this makes him